1. Field
Embodiments relate to graphical user interfaces.
2. Background
Software applications often have an accompanying graphical user interface (GUI) that allows a user to interact with the application in a visual manner. This often manifests itself as a series of windows, boxes, buttons, toolbars, and status bars displayed to the user. Generally these are programmed by a manufacturer or a developer in a manner that does not provide an interface that allows for the insertion of additional graphic elements. However, some software applications provide such an interface, which is referred to as plugin system.
A plugin or extension extends the functionality through the use of the plugin system. For example, several web browsers have plugin systems which allow for the creation of plugins. However, these plugin systems have a defined interface and often only allow limited modification of a web browser's GUI. For example, a plugin system might provide an interface to add a button to a toolbar, but might not permit for the creation of a status bar. Moreover, software applications that don't provide plugin systems may have no defined interface for extending functionality at all.